The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has reaffirmed his position that ex-gratia payments to holders of Article 71 offices are no longer necessary, claiming that this is no longer the intended use.
He claims that while fighting corruption was the original goal of ex-gratia payments for some public employees and political officeholders, this is no longer the case under the current administration.
Speaking at a public forum held in Kumasi to commemorate the Fourth Republican Parliament’s 30th anniversary, Alban Bagbin emphasized that the payments’ original purpose was to reassure political officeholders and public servants that their needs would be met after they left office, motivating them to put the interests of the people before their own.
He did admit, though, that this hasn’t really happened in reality and that the payments haven’t had much of an impact on corruption.
The Speaker stated that he was in favor of changing Article 71 of the Constitution to do away with ex-gratia payments since he felt they were no longer essential.
“The issue of ex gratia is a very thorny issue. The founders envisaged a situation where they wanted some particular category of public servants, including political officeholders. The ex gratia is not for members of parliament and it’s not even ex gratia, it’s gratuity.
There’s a difference between ex gratia and gratuity and it’s not for members of parliament alone. It cuts through a category of public servants and political office holders, including auditor general, including the chairpersons of all the constitutional commissions, including ministers of state, the presidency, judiciary, and all others, it’s not just members of parliament.”
“But the concept was to assure them, because of the importance of the position they occupy, and the decisions they take on your behalf, the concept was to assure them, don’t think about yourself, think about the people you represent because, after your office, we will take care of you. So it was to assist us to contain corruption. And I’m happy that a number of industrial chiefs from this region were members of the consultative assembly.”
“Unfortunately, in practice, it has not served its purpose. It has not been able to assist us to curb or contain corruption. And so when I made an attempt to contest as a presidential candidate, I did announce that if elected as president, I was going to ensure that that article is amended from the constitution. So I agree totally with anybody who comes to say that we should do away with Article 71 of the Constitution. It hasn’t served its purpose, there’s no use maintaining it.” He stated.
Source: Mybrytfmonline.com/Joseph Asare
